This is a bit belated – I’ve been struggling to find the energy to blog (or to do much else!). But it’s a new week tomorrow! Let’s hope I get my sense of humour back too. 1. My little miniature poppy meadow at the entrance to the Mirror Garden. When I walk up there in … Continue reading Six on Saturday. 23 May 2020
I’ve found that, amongst the shrub roses that I grow, ‘Queen of Sweden’ is the most useful for arranging in a vase because the stems are nice and long. I’ve struggled for a while to get good germination on seed of Sweet William, but I’ve always remembered how well it did in our garden in … Continue reading In a Vase on Monday. 18 May 2020
No – don’t worry, I’m not going to start all that up again! I need a break. The great news today is that we are free once again to indulge that great French passion for eating together with friends and family. But, as Le Figaro put it yesterday morning, Oui … mais … Providing there … Continue reading Déconfinement, Jour …
Here’s a little race around the roses just beginning to flower in the garden. Since I succesfully uploaded all the pics yesterday afternoon, I decided to go for it in one shot. Tomorrow is my last day, and I still have (happily), three pictures up my sleeve. Flowering in the Iris Garden, ‘Blairii No. 2’ … Continue reading Rāhui Day 55
I’m nearly there … the last of the irises and then, in the next two days, the first of the roses. Hopefully we won’t be severed completely from the internet before then! Iris ‘Alizes’ is flowering full-on now. Iris ‘Comme un Oeuf’ is a rather frilly version of an egg. I like it! Iris ‘Ciel … Continue reading Rāhui Day 54
It’s VE day in Europe – the 75th anniversary of the liberation of France (with heart-felt thanks to Americans, Canadians & Australians, everywhere). I should be marching around with my 63-year-old eyes and playing the ‘Marseillaise’ on my flute (using a miniscule music stand on my arm, with tiny, tiny little notes that I can … Continue reading Rāhui Day 53
More about the irises – I’m probably going to do this in two parts, today and tomorrow, because the internet is so very slow at the moment. Or could it be WordPress, taking an eternity to upload my pictures from the computer? Anyway – first the ‘old’ irises that have begun to flower in the … Continue reading Rāhui Day 52
These are pictures from the second, most recently created, part of the garden. I call it the ‘Hornbeam Gardens’, because I planted hornbeam hedges in 2015 to make two garden ‘rooms’. The top is a cut flower garden, the bottom is a spring shrub garden and ‘meadow’ later on. The pictures are from the ‘meadow’ … Continue reading Rāhui Day 51
I had grand plans for posting pictures of the lower Hornbeam Gardens today (the second newest part of the garden). However the internet connexion is so horrendous, that I’m contenting myself with a couple of pictures of my little woodland corner. Everything is beginning to go very green in there – bluebells, daffodils and lily … Continue reading Rāhui Day 50
A week today I’m going to stop doing these daily posts. France will slowly be coming out of confinement from the 11th of May (next Monday). They’ve created a regional map. The areas called ‘green’ – least badly hit by Covid-19 – will experience (we imagine) a relaxation of the regulations then. Unfortunately in the … Continue reading Rāhui Day 49
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 